Abolitionist Movement Essay

Back in the nineteenth century men and women were not treated equally as they are now. Women did not have as much freedom as the men did and that caused a national movement. Not only were the women segregated from the men, but the discrimination against the African American race was a huge ordeal as well. With both movements combined, it led to a controversial development at that time. Not only were women fighting for equality, they were also fighting for the prejudice to end amongst the different races. The beginning of the Women’s Rights Movement and the Abolitionist Movement was not only a historic development, but it changed the world forever.

Throughout the history of the United States there have been many reform movements that have molded the culture we live in today. The rights that we as Americans enjoy today can be credited to the people who fought for more rights and a better way of life. Two reform movements that have changed America for the better are the Abolitionist Movement and the Civil Rights Movement. Around the 1820’s the feeling of legal slavery was changing in the United States.

On Monday July 5th, 1852, Frederick Douglass captivated his audience at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York with one of the most powerful antislavery orations ever delivered, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”1 As an African American and former slave himself, Douglass was a crucial component to the Civil Rights movement and the abolishment of slavery. His concern for equal rights sprouted as early as twelve years old, often listening to debates among free blacks in Baltimore, as well as becoming a member of the East Baltimore Mental Improvement Society. While enslaved, he taught himself to read and write with the patriotic essays and speeches in Caleb Bingham’s The Columbian Orator, which emphasized the power of a speaker’s

After the rebellion and the death of Nat Turner, Garrison and Knapp, whom believed that Negroes had as much to the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as whites enjoyed, published the 'Liberator'; in Boston, demanding that slaves be emancipated and freed. Though it cannot be said with certainty that this was the one major event that sparked the

“In 1831, Garrison founded The Liberator, a militant abolitionist newspaper that was the country’s first publication to demand an immediate end to slavery. On the front page of the first issue, he

William Lloyd Garrison was a brave journalist whose biggest goal was to end the enslavement of African- Americans. In 1805, the inspiring journalist, was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts where he endured extreme poverty. For example, Garrison was abandoned by his father at the age of three and was raised by a single mother. In 1816, Garrison struggled in grammar school and he even said that “he did not know one single rule of grammar.” Even though, Garrison was ten years old, he was not that bright in reading and he only used, “sermons and religious tracts,” to practice because that was the only thing he could afford. When his mother started having health problems, Garrison took an apprentice job as a cabinetmaker, which did not last because he felt that the job was boring. In 1818, Lloyd was rescued from poverty when he was apprenticed to Ephraim W. Allen, who was an editor for the newspaper company Newburyport Herald. Furthermore, Garrison would work at the Newburyport Herald for seven years, but would not enjoy working there and even stated that, “My little heart sank like lead within me,” when he walked in the Herald office for the first time.

The abolitionist movement was an important time in American history. Abolitionists were people that opposed slavery which was an enormous problem in the South. African-Americans worked with white abolitionists to gain support and funds for the cause. Former slaves, white men, black women and all different types came together for the movement. Many abolitionists such as Sojourner Truth and Douglass were able to draw on their past experiences as slaves to tell about the horrible treatment of their peers.

Jacqueline Bacon, African American writer, quoted Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm in her essay Freedom’s Journal, The First African-American Newspaper: “ We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us” (Brown 13). This quote gave slaves a sense of empowerment to stand up for themselves and no longer be property, but people. The Freedom Journal is the first African American newspaper that was published in March 16, 1827 in New York City by free black men Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm. They felt that a national newspaper will give them a chance to have freedom to voice their opinions about public debates. Through their process of creating their newspaper they endured many trials of deal with hatred and being criticized for their choices. Through the time of creating the newspaper they were able to establish a black free communities. “ Beginning in the 1780s, a first generation of leaders began to address issues if identity, self-determination, and group consciousness. They did so against a backdrop of racism, oppression, violence, and tension within the new republic about slavery and the place of free African American in the nation” ( Brown 14). Richard Allen, Frederick Douglass, and Solomon Northrup are leaders for overcoming slavery, shaping African American history, and creating a community for blacks to come together. These three influential people pleaded their case to gain their own voice and identity.

William Lloyd Garrison was the abolitionist who was most influential in bringing slavery to an end in the 1800’s. Garrison was born in 1805 and died in 1879. He was born and grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. He was very active as an abolitionist and made sure that his voice was heard. He was a women’s rights advocate and strongly believed that slavery should come to an end. To start off, William spoke out against most churches for supporting slavery. He would shame the people inside for wearing cotton, claiming that they supported slavery. He also burned the Constitution publicly to make a statement. Garrison wanted to make a point to people and have change happen. He voiced his opinions and shamed those who didn’t believe what he did. By vocalizing

Once the colonization blood sweat and tear was needy, automatic African-Americans in the North became wiser in the chip on such shoulder against slavery. They worked mutually white abolitionists savor William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips to sweet the word. They blew up publications and contributed money. Many, one as Robert Purvis, zealous their control freeing companionless slaves from bondage. Although many at the helm their control the case three African-American abolitionists surpassed others in impact. These were David Walker, Frederick Douglass, and Sojourner Truth.

Although opposition against slavery was still new to the U.S, Garrison forced a nation to confront slavery for the first time. The Liberator inspired some people to fight against slavery, and it even influenced future activists like Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr. However, many people were outraged over The Liberator and disagreed with William Lloyd Garrison. The Liberator received a lot of backlash, and Garrison has unsurprisingly received numerous threats. A grand jury indicated Garrison for distributing incendiary literature and a five thousand dollar bounty was out for Garrison’s arrest. He was also abused and nearly lynched on the streets of Boston. However, Garrison was not frightened easily. He gathered a small group consisting of young men and women to defend his principles in his response. This small group then burned

The African Americans did not stand by while this happened, they fought back and confronted the colonizers with their assumptions that “free black people were unfit to live as citizens in America.” Most of the African Americans who lived in American, were native born, which to them meant that they belonged in America. Free African Americans established some 50 abolitionist societies that presented refuge to fugitive slaves, and launched the first African American newspaper in 1827, Freedoms Journal by David Walker, a free black man who published this to Appeal the the Colored Citizen of the World. He insisted, “America is more our country than it is the whites, we have enriched it with our blood and tears.” Thus, created a comeback that exploded in the summer of 1831, Nat Turners Rebellion. From both sides, a small group of antislavery white people lost hope of colonization and boarded on a new method. Returning to

Most Southerners in turn became more entrenched in their support of slavery and resented Northern meddling in their society. William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent American abolitionist. He was one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society. His uncompromising position on the moral outrage that was slavery made him loved and hated by many Americans In 1831 he published the first edition of his newspaper, The Liberator,. In his newspaper, in defend to his position he says: “No body of men ever had the right to guarantee the holding of human beings in bondage. Who or what were the framers of our government, that they should dare confirm and authorise such high-handed villany—such flagrant robbery of the inalienable rights of man— such a glaring violation of all the precepts and injunctions of the gospel—such a savage war upon a sixth part of our whole population? They were men, like ourselves—as fallible, as sinful, as weak, as ourselves .With other abolitionists, Garrison organized the New England Anti-slavery in 1832. A year later he joined 60 other delegates, including men, women, whites, and free blacks, to create the American anti-slavery society. In 1835, American abolitionists, taking

The abolitionist movements is one of the older movements occurring in the 1830’s. It focused on freeing the slaves, and ending racial discrimination and segregation. William Lloyd Garrison was a large part of this movement. In 1831, he started a paper called the Liberator, which he used to voice his opinions of anti-slavery, it was the most influential of the abolitionist newspapers out there. In 1833, he also founded the first American Anti-Slavery Society, and held the convention of it in Philadelphia. It created a huge backlash, in which riots for slavery broke out in many of northeastern cities. It led to the south wanting to suppress the literature created by abolition groups. Anti-slavery conventions continued to meet. This movement went

During the age 13, he started his journalism career as an editor working for Newburyport Herald. “It was during this apprenticeship that Garrison would find his true calling.” (Biography) Soon after he landed his first job and had all the experience he then decided to work for another company. Soon after this, he then left the current company so he could start his own abolitionist paper called “The Liberator”. This paper was a good idea and